NJ News & Views

A carrot and stick approach may not be enough to put Lakewood on the path to SMART Growth, the state's blueprint for cooperative regional planning.

At the February 14, 2008 meeting of the Lakewood Township Committee, committeemen defied the state by voting to carry an ordinance to sell public land located near the Kettle Creek, a state protected waterway, instead of killing the ordinance altogether as the state demanded.

The Kettle Creek is a micro-estuary located along the northwestern coast of the Barnegat Bay, a 35-mile lagoon-type estuary that flows along the southeastern coast of New Jersey. The Barnegat Bay provides a habitat for many endangered plant and animal species.

Prior to the vote, Deputy Mayor Marc (Meir) Lichtenstein, a real estate developer, investor and property manager, denounced the state's efforts to control the township's growth.

"We're having a lot of problems with the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection)," he said. "We need land for affordable housing and education."

Lakewood non-public school enrollment is three times the size of Lakewood public school enrollment. The growing number of non-public schools where students attend class mirror the growth of Beth Medrash Govoha, a Lakewood rabbinical college considered to be the largest in the world.

Many rabbinical students enrolled in Beth Medrash Govoha are married and have children. Many also continue to live in Lakewood after graduation, increasing the demand for affordable housing and school district services.

In 2004, Mayor Raymond Coles announced that the township had identified suitable public land for construction of affordable housing near Oak Street, even though the Kettle Creek flows through the area. Since the parcels identified for affordable housing were not contiguous, the township began exchanging public land for private property assessed at lesser value. Many of the parcels were owned by developers that profited from the exchange.

In 2005, committeemen began auctioning off township land in the area for construction of non-public schools.

In 2006, the Lakewood Board of Education announced plans to sell the public school in which administrative offices were located. Board members proposed to hold a referendum to bond for construction of a new administrative building near the site of the affordable housing and non-public schools.

Such a move would not save taxpayers money. According to a recent report in the Asbury Park Press, a majority of Lakewood non-public school students receive non-remote transportation, commonly referred to as courtesy busing. The state does not reimburse the cost of non-remote transportation, increasing the cost of Lakewood non-public school services.

In 2007, Coles told a newspaper reporter that the tax collection rate had been "abnormally" low the past two years. Even as increasing numbers of Lakewood property owners successfully challenge their tax assessment, fail to pay their property taxes, or receive a tax exemption or tax abatement, the township committee has continued to press the need for affordable housing.

Last week, Lichtenstein expressed indignation at state interference with the committee's housing initiative.

"What the DEP is doing to this town is unconscionable," Lichtenstein said. "This week, I was threatened (by the state) if we do something with this land."

Lichtenstein motioned to carry the ordinance for two meetings, which was seconded. The motion carried, with Lichtenstein, Coles and Committeeman Menashe Miller voting in the majority to carry the ordinance. Committeeman Charles Cunliffe voted not to carry the ordinance.

Committeeman Robert Singer, a state senator, changed his vote to carry the ordinance and instead abstained.

If committeemen vote to approve the ordinance next month, the township would hold a public auction for sale of Block 1105, Lot 1 and Block 1109, Lot 1. The blocks and lots are located at Salem Avenue and Sussex Avenue, off Vermont Avenue.

According to committeemen, the state will be protecting the Kettle Creek with a 100-to-150-foot buffer.

New Jersey protects wetlands under the New Jersey Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 13:9B. The law also protects transition areas from development within 150 feet of wetlands. The transition areas are sometimes referred to as "buffers."

Development of freshwater wetlands or their buffers can result in a penalty of up to $10,000 per day per violation, as well as civil and criminal penalties.

Lakewood has so far failed to meet state deadlines for Plan Endorsement, which would signal the township's willingness to refrain from selling environmentally sensitive wetlands for development or redevelopment.

According to the state Office of Smart Growth (OSG) Web site, Plan Endorsement ensures that municipal, county, regional and state agency plans are consistent with the state Development and Redevelopment Plan and with each other. An endorsed plan entitles municipalities and counties to a higher priority for available funding, streamlined permit reviews, and coordinated state agency services.

Plan Endorsement includes an incentive that Lichtenstein said was the only reason committeemen were voting to carry the ordinance instead of voting to approve it.

If Lakewood participates in the state planning process, the township will be eligible to re-establish its expired coastal center boundaries. At stake is developers' ability to build on environmentally sensitive areas governed by the Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA) and DEP regulations.

Coastal centers are used in determining the impervious cover limits and vegetative cover percentages for development proposed in the CAFRA area, according to online DEP documentation. Without such changes, attorney Abraham Penzer told committeemen in 2005 that at least 80 percent of the proposed affordable housing could not be built as planned.

Although Lakewood fulfilled its Fair Share of Affordable Housing decades ago, the town has continued to solicit Regional Contribution Agreement (RCA) payments from other towns with Mt. Laurel housing obligations in order to construct additional affordable housing.

In the past, Lakewood Township was the landlord of its affordable housing developments. More recently, developers and real estate investors elected or appointed to government office are becoming the new landlords of public housing.

According to documents on file with the county and Lakewood Township, Committeeman Lichtenstein and his business associate, David Lichtenstein, now own Lakewood Plaza I.

On February 14, 1968, the Lakewood Housing Authority deeded Lakewood Plaza Section I to a New Jersey Limited Dividend Housing General Partnership called Lakewood Plaza Section I Associates, located at 1600 St. Georges Avenue, Rahway. On June 24, 2002, ownership of the property was transferred for $2,550,000 to Lakewood Plaza Section I, LLC, located at 326 Third Street in Lakewood - where companies owned by David Lichtenstein were headquartered.

In 2000, Marc (Meir) Lichtenstein, then a member of the Lakewood Zoning Board of Adjustment, signed a Certificate of Occupancy as a tenant of David Lichtenstein's Lakewood headquarters at 326 Third Street.

At the September 20, 2007 committee meeting, Committeeman Lichtenstein recused himself from a committee vote to table a proposed sale of public land to a company David Lichtenstein owns. A reporter asked Committeeman Lichtenstein after the meeting why he had recused himself. Lichtenstein confirmed that he still had a business relationship with David Lichtenstein, which NJ News & Views reported in a story posted August 31, 2007.

Committeeman Lichtenstein was again forced to recuse himself during a committee vote at the February 14, 2008 meeting. At that time, committeemen eligible to vote approved first reading of an ordinance to continue a 2003 tax abatement to the new owner of a property located in the Lakewood Industrial Park. The new owner of the property is David Lichtenstein, who purchased it earlier that day.

Located at 1985 Cedarbridge Avenue, near the Lakewood border with Brick, a majority of the property will continue to be leased to its former owner, Dan Jesel of Jesel, Inc., but David Lichtenstein, Chief Executive Officer of the Lightstone Group, is the building's new landlord.

Victor P. Iorio and Pinchus (P.G.) Waxman brokered the $16 million deal between Dakdal LLC, a holding company owned by Jesel, and 1985 Cedar Bridge Avenue LLC, a holding company owned by David Lichtenstein.

Waxman is a former Lakewood committeeman and a current member of the Ocean County Board of Taxation.

The Contract of Sale, available with other tax abatement documents through the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), included a letter from Jesel's attorney, Dante J. Romanini. Romanini informed Lakewood officials that his client had applied to the DEP Division of Remediation Support for a Remediation Agreement application, which was submitted to the state on January 3, 2008.

Jesel Valvetrain Innovation manufactures motor vehicle parts and accessories in the 110,000-square-foot facility the company will now share with Lightstone, an international real estate investment company with a portfolio valued at billions of dollars.

As a result of committee delay in complying with the requirements for Plan Endorsement, CAFRA regulations continue to limit any additional parking that can be built on the Jesel property. According to the contract between Dan Jesel and David Lichtenstein, Jesel instead will apply for township approval to restripe the company parking lot, increasing available parking from 120 spaces to 233 spaces.

Jesel employs 80 workers and will consolidate company operations by retrofitting the building into separate spaces at seller expense. Jesel will occupy 67,890 square feet in the newer portion of the building, for which the company received a 5-year tax abatement in 2003. Lightstone, which is requesting a continuation of the tax abatement as the new owner of the building, will employee 130 workers on 42,609 square feet of the building that is not eligible for a tax abatement.

Curbside parking is not permitted in the Industrial Park, where Jesel is located. However, an increase in the number of employees entering and exiting the property during work hours will increase the number of vehicles on the road and the potential for an accident.

Lack of parking has become a problem throughout the town, but especially in the downtown area.

Earlier this month, the Lakewood Development Corporation (LDC), which oversees the township's Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) where Jesel is located, approved the purchase of three privately-owned properties in downtown Lakewood for construction of a municipal parking lot. The parking lot will be built on the block between Fourth and Fifth Streets, bordered by Clifton Avenue and Madison Avenue (Route 9 north).

On February 14, the committee approved a resolution requesting state approval of $2,396,705 in UEZ funding for acquisition of land, demolition and construction costs to build another municipal parking lot. Despite committee approval of the resolution for state review, parking may continue to be a problem in downtown Lakewood.

Last year, the Lakewood Planning Board approved three applications for development of 5-story, mixed use buildings in downtown Lakewood that will not have parking lots. On February 14, the committee voted to approve an ordinance on first reading that would remove the exemption permitting developers to construct buildings over two stories without parking.

Prior to the committee vote, Miller objected to the proposed ordinance. He said developers would have to sacrifice landscaping that beautified the properties if they had to instead install parking. Miller said that a proposed parking garage planned for construction on the municipal building parking lot would provide additional parking in the area once it was constructed.

Cunliffe agreed. However, Coles stressed the urgency of removing the exemption before more 5-story buildings without parking were constructed.

Attorney Guy Ryan, substituting for Township Attorney Steven Secare, suggested that a fund be established in lieu of providing parking. The planning board will examine the suggestion and make a recommendation for or against it prior to the next committee meeting on February 28.

The planning board already approved a recommendation to amend the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) that the committee updated in 2005, which the committee approved on first reading at the February 14 meeting. On February 28, the committee will hold a second reading and vote. If approved, the ordinance would amend the UDO to permit mid-rise, mixed use buildings with on and off-site parking in the B-5 (Business) zone on Route 70.

In 2006, township officials opposed the change as a recommendation to update the Master Plan, which must be submitted with other documents for Plan Endorsement. LDC members voted to adopt a resolution opposing such a change.

That was then.

In 2008, the committee is likely to approve the change as an amendment to the UDO, but not corrections in zoning that committeemen told the public were a mistake. Developers have continued to take advantage of the change, which permits dense development in an environmentally sensitive area of town near Cross Street.

As Lakewood committeemen continue to debate the issue of parking, Lakewood developers continue to build residential and commercial projects without it.

At the February 14 meeting, committeemen approved first reading of a tax abatement requested by Ben Rabinowitz of 4th and Lexington LLC. In his application for a tax abatement, Rabinowitz said construction of a 2-story, 5,200-square-foot retail/office building on Lexington Avenue and Fourth Street would be completed on February 15. A supermarket is located on the first floor and office space is available for lease on the second floor. Rabinowitz said that ample public parking was available one block away.

The municipal building parking lot is located between Third and Fourth Street and Lexington and Clifton Avenues. On any day municipal court is in session, police and civilian cars are parked in every available space on the lot.

During a committee meeting last year, a resident suggested expanding the parking lot of the Ocean County Library, also located on Clifton and Fourth. If library patrons must compete with supermarket shoppers for spaces, there will not be ample parking in the area.

In granting Rabinowitz and David Lichtenstein tax abatements, the committee is continuing to sacrifice valuable tax revenue that could be used to build additional public parking.

Rabinowitz stated in his application that current taxes were $4,228.21, based on a land assessment of $256,100.

"We are requesting to keep taxes at the same rate for 5 years to help offset the price of construction, which was very expensive," Rabinowitz wrote.

The building was completed at a cost of $550,000, according to Rabinowitz.

Like Rabinowitz, Lakewood has invested a substantial amount of money to provide needed services without a plan for their delivery. Plan Endorsement helps entrepreneurs like Rabinowitz and municipalities like Lakewood plan for growth, while also ensuring the health, welfare and safety of all citizens.

In 1872, artist John Gast painted "American Progress," an allegorical representation of Manifest Destiny, the belief that the United States must expand westward to the Pacific Ocean. In Gast's painting, Manifest Destiny was embodied by Columbia, a female holding a school book and stringing telegraph wires as she traveled across the country.

Whether Manifest Destiny means expansion across thousands of miles or just one 25-square-mile New Jersey township evolving into a city, growth must be planned in order to provide needed services to citizens that live, play or engage in commerce there. Everyone needs clean air, clean water, a roof over their head and a parking space if they drive a car.

The hunt for a parking place could soon become as competitive in Jackson as it already is in neighboring Lakewood.

Last month, Jackson rezoned a 20.5-acre site near the border with Lakewood for construction of a multi-family affordable housing development and clubhouse. The ordinance rezoning the site prohibits residents from parking their cars on the development's internal streets, but permits them to park in development garages or off-site.

The development will be located within walking distance of several public and private parking lots, including one of the township's two Park and Ride facilities.

Located off West County Line Road, half a block from the intersection with Brewers Bridge Road, the site was formerly zoned R-15 and HC (Highway Commercial). The development will be constructed behind the Central Jersey Italian American Club of Jackson, which has its own parking lot. Since December 2006, the club's parking lot has also been open to the public as a Park and Ride.

In 2002, the township opened the first Park and Ride in Brewers Bridge Plaza, a shopping center located at the intersection of West County Line Road and Brewers Bridge Road.

In July 2006, Jackson building officials closed a 37,600-square-foot supermarket in the shopping center that was undergoing renovations. Officials charged that partners Zeev Rothschild and Mark Engel of Zebra Holdings LLC failed to get a use variance or to submit a site plan before installing a mikvah, the Jewish ritual purification bath, in the former FoodTown supermarket. The supermarket is located in a highway commercial zone, where a mikvah is not a permitted use. Officials deemed construction of a bath house within a supermarket to be a health and safety issue.

Whalepond Development LP of Ocean, the owner of the supermarket, was fined $2,000 for the violation and ordered to correct it.

After Zebra Holdings reconfigured the planned mikvah into a maintenance room, Rothschild and Engel reopened NPGS Jackson in December 2006. That same month, Whalepond gave notice to the township it could no longer use the supermarket parking lot as a Park and Ride, according to a January 12, 2007 report in the Jackson Times.

"The owner of the property didn't want it there any longer, and the previous governing body never had a signed deal with them," Councilman Angelo Stallone, a member of the Italian-American Club, told a reporter last year. "So we tried to work out a deal with them, but they didn't want to hear it. They just wanted (the commuter parking) out."

The newspaper reported that the Brewers Bridge Park and Ride served an estimated 75 commuters traveling on Academy Bus Lines to New York.

Stallone reportedly asked the club for permission to use its private parking lot as a replacement site for the Park and Ride. The club said yes.

In exchange for free use of the club's parking lot, the township offered to maintain private property with free municipal services, such as snow plowing in the winter, the Jackson Times reported.

"They decided to do it as a community service," Stallone said in a quote. "There's approximately 50 to 60 cars that park there, and there are also people who walk from the apartment complexes in that area who it will help too."

The township constructed its first permanent Park and Ride facility on Progress Place, near the entrance to 195. The location is also within walking distance of a 610.5-acre, predominantly wetlands site, where developer Mitch Leigh has submitted applications over the years to build a mixed-use development with an affordable housing component. If his plan to densely develop the site is ever approved, it would double Jackson's population of 50,000 and create an even greater need for public parking in the area.

Since 2002, Leigh has lobbied for a zoning change that would allow him to develop the site in accordance with the neo-traditional school of development, a design aesthetic popular in Lakewood. In 2005 and 2006, the Jackson Township Committee appointed a subcommittee to meet with Leigh's representatives, but neither the committee nor its replacement, a mayor and council, has acted to change the site's zoning density.

That is not the case on County Line Road.

Ordinance 04-08, which identifies the blocks on which the proposed multi-family affordable housing development will be built, but not the lots, reverses a 6-year-old initiative in Jackson that limited residential housing construction to either one home per three acres or one home per five acres.

The newly-created MF-AH-6 zone permits construction of multifamily dwellings at a gross density not to exceed six dwelling units per acre.

According to the Preliminary and Final Major Site Plan for Windsor Crescent, submitted by applicant Community Investment Strategies, Inc., the affordable housing development will consist of 14 buildings with 8 dwelling units per building. The applicant proposes to construct a total of 78 2-bedroom units and 34 3-bedroom units on a 20.5-acre wooded tract adjacent to two residential homes on Solar Avenue.

Solar Avenue is a side street off Cpl. Luigi Marciante Memorial Drive, formerly named Christopher Columbus Boulevard, which accesses West County Line Road.

Two parking spaces are required per 2-bedroom dwelling unit, for a total of 156 spaces, and 2.1 spaces are required per 3-bedroom dwelling unit, for a total of 72 spaces. Community Investment Strategies submitted a site plan with a total of 266 spaces, including 8 handicapped spaces, 38 more than the required 228 spaces, including 7 handicapped spaces.

That will still not be enough.

In the Lakewood development of Westgate, which borders Jackson Township, a 50-foot wooded buffer was cleared for construction of additional parking spaces after the developer failed to plan for the actual number that were needed.

Windsor Crescent will also have a 50-foot wooded buffer - on paper.

According to the site plan, the township has granted several waivers to the applicant, which will not be required to submit an environmental impact study, a tree save plan or a traffic impact study.

The owner of the development will be Jackson Township.

While the waivers may expedite the application and aid the township in meeting its Fair Share of Affordable Housing, the studies ensure the safety of affordable housing residents and their neighbors.

On January 7, the Jackson Planning Board held the first public discussion to update the township's Master Plan, which could ultimately lead to a rezoning of many other areas of town for more dense development as well. Unless the Jackson Master Plan is updated with additional municipal parking and public transportation routes, many Jackson residents will not receive needed services.

According to a map of Jackson's updated blocks and lots, provided online by the township tax assessor's office, the most densely developed areas of town are located at the border with Lakewood, particularly around County Line Road and near Lake Carasaljo. Those residents and others in less developed parts of town will need public transportation and public parking as both Lakewood and Jackson grow into a city.

On February 5, the Lakewood Development Corporation (LDC), which oversees the township's Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ), approved a plan for construction of more municipal parking in downtown Lakewood. The project will be a step in the right direction for Lakewood, but Jackson needs to take the same initiative.

Like Jackson, Lakewood lacks public transportation that would provide all residents with an alternative means of commuting to local destinations other bus companies do not service. Unfortunately, Lakewood has taken a step in the wrong direction by seeking to provide that service with UEZ funds.

In 2006, LDC Executive Director Russell Corby proposed that UEZ funds be approved for the purchase of a Job Link bus. The proposal was made after the state UEZ Authority temporarily froze Job Link program funds used to reimburse the township for contract bus service to transport workers employed in Lakewood Industrial Park. The state took the action after an audit disclosed program misappropriations that included job training services.

The UEZ program was approved in Lakewood to bring commerce and jobs to the township. UEZ funds are not approved for job training.

Corby's original plan to buy one Job Link bus has grown to a plan to buy nine buses and a spare, according to presentations by John Jennings of T&M at the December 20, 2007 and January 17, 2008 meetings of the Lakewood Township Committee. Instead of providing a plan for bus routes that would service all communities of Lakewood, the proposed routes would service Orthodox developments and Beth Medrash Govoha, described by many sources as the world's largest rabbinical college.

The only non-Orthodox community that would receive bus service is Georgian Court University, which does not need it. According to a university spokeswoman, Georgian Court provides its own local transportation for students and faculty, which Beth Medrash Govoha does not.

Committeemen also discussed a plan to transport Lakewood schoolchildren on public buses. According to state law, the township would be required to purchase a minimum of $1 million of insurance if it intends to use municipal buses for that purpose. All municipal buses would also be required to pass state inspection for use as school bus transportation.

If Lakewood goes through with a plan to use Job Link buses for transportation of adults and children attending class in addition to workers commuting to jobs in the Industrial Park, the project may no longer qualify for UEZ funding, committing the township to even greater costs associated with operating a fleet of public buses.

Although Lakewood will be building additional municipal parking, the proposed buses would take away curbside parking spaces wherever a bus stop is designated. And while Corby proposes to offset the cost of operating the bus through advertising on buses and bus shelters, Lakewood taxpayers would still be committed to paying the cost of operating the buses for two years at a minimum cost of $1.2 million.

Both Lakewood and Jackson, which are updating their Master Plans, can save taxpayer dollars and provide a needed service by contracting out bus routes to a private business, which in turn would bring jobs and commerce to the area that would benefit both townships and the state.

Jobs and commerce produce added revenue that could be used to pay for additional parking throughout both towns, which are becoming cities. By working cooperatively and planning for the future, Lakewood and Jackson can provide a needed service paid for by those that use it.

On January 5, members of the Lakewood Development Corporation approved the purchase of three key parcels of privately-owned property in downtown Lakewood at a purchase price of $2.4 million.

The acquisition of land for parking in a growing city where many people drive is priceless.

In past years, members of the Lakewood Development Corporation (LDC), which oversees the township's multi-million dollar Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) program, have spent money on a variety of projects that were either wasteful or benefited only special interests.

In 2006, the LDC approved $37,500 for construction of a muster zone in the Lakewood Industrial Park. The project disrupted a neighboring UEZ member's business and disturbed the habitat of several animals on the state's endangered species list. When the muster zone was finally completed, Lakewood's day laborers and their employers refused to use it.

That same year, the LDC also approved $32,500 for an engineering study to improve privately-owned property being redeveloped on the site of the former Jamesway shopping center. The proposal was revised to include every property located on the block, which was described as a gateway to Lakewood. After authorizing funding to study the project, the LDC never voted on it.

In 2007, the LDC authorized $21,000 to develop new signage in Lakewood Industrial Park. The LDC approved the study, but not a budget for the proposed project. The result was a $400,000 design that included elaborate floral displays on most signs, which would have required a gardening service the LDC had yet to approve for maintenance of unmown grass around existing signs.

On Tuesday afternoon, the LDC didn't waste money. Instead, board members planned for Lakewood's future by approving Downtown Parking Development Phase II, which will benefit everyone in town.

Resolution 08-02-2 authorizes $2,396,705 for the purchase of privately-owned property located on Block 93, where the historic Strand Theater is located. The block is bordered by Madison Avenue (Route 9 north) and Clifton Avenue, between Fourth and Fifth Streets.

The resolution authorizes $850,000 to acquire Lot 5, owned by John and Pat DeFilippis; $1,150,000 to acquire Lot 6, the former Madison Guest House, which is owned by T & T Developers; and $290,000 to acquire a garage located on a portion of Lot 12, owned by 418-420 Clifton Avenue LLC. The balance of the $2.4 million will pay for professional fees, demolition and other related project costs.

In past years, the township committee explored various plans to increase downtown parking, but did not act on any of them.

There is no more time for delay.

Last year, the township planning board granted approval to three applications for construction of 5-story mixed use buildings in downtown Lakewood. The planning board did not require the buildings to have parking lots. Under local ordinance, parking is not required for such buildings, but building occupants and their visitors will need it.

Once the LDC takes title to the properties it agreed to purchase on Tuesday, the properties will become tax exempt. Despite the loss of tax revenue, local government will gain valuable land on which it can operate urgently needed municipal parking.

Property owners as well as local government are making a sacrifice, according to Pat DeFilippis. DeFilippis told a reporter that she and her husband could have leased available space in their professional building, but took a loss of thousands of dollars while waiting one year for the LDC to appraise and authorize the purchase of their property. DeFilippis said transfer of title could still take several more months.

Once constructed, the additional municipal parking will help meet the needs of a growing populace, which will in turn increase commerce in the area, fulfilling the purpose of the UEZ program funding the project.

Prior to the LDC vote on the project, members discussed it in public session. Senator Robert Singer, a member of the Lakewood Township Committee and the LDC, supported the project. He said the cost would not be paid out of local tax dollars.

"This is just a win-win situation," Singer said.

Miriam Medina, Lakewood Director of Parental Involvement, has a new office.

On January 25, 2008, Medina moved out of her office on the ground floor of the former residential home that houses the district's community services programs, and into a closet-sized office without a telephone on the second floor of Princeton Avenue School, where administrative offices are located.

The smaller office is located adjacent to a small faculty lunchroom, across the hall from the offices of Lakewood Superintendent of Schools Edward Luick. Ironically, the larger office in which Luick's staff now works was previously the location of the community services program where Medina once worked.

Despite the size and location of her new office, Medina, who said she earns approximately $37,000 per year, is a fortunate woman. A district employee for 20 years, she was originally slated to be laid off along with public school janitors, security guards, teachers and classroom support personnel in order to close a budget deficit of more than $1 million.

Medina did not receive a pink slip, but she is no longer able to do the job for which she is still being paid, according to members of the public that addressed the Lakewood Board of Education at its January 29 meeting.

One woman implored board members in Spanish to give Medina back her former office and responsibilities.

"It’s the only office where people like me can go for (help), but (the district) cut off the resources," she said in Spanish, which a translator repeated for the public in English. "Sometimes we come to the office without a coat to wear."

The woman asked the board to restore funding to Medina's office.

"Your position was slated to be cut," board attorney Michael Inzelbuch said, addressing Medina from her seat in a packed auditorium with an overflow attendance standing at the back of the room.

Inzelbuch noted that Medina's new office was located behind the building's mailroom. He suggested publicizing her new location.

"I am not allowed to collect clothing (anymore)," Medina said.

"Restore the services she used to offer!" advocate James Waters demanded from his seat in the audience.

Inzelbuch said those services were a redundancy of township services.

During the week, the township permits the charitable distribution of clothing and canned food in Town Square. However, downtown retailers have opposed the activity for years, which they assert disrupts business.

Medina is not the only district employee providing costly redundant services. In 2002, the board hired Inzelbuch as board attorney after he successfully sued them on behalf of special education students seeking to attend a more expensive out-of-district school. That same year, the board also hired Inzelbuch as a part-time non-public special education consultant, for which he receives a full-time salary and benefits in addition to the money he earns as board attorney.

In June 2007, the same month the state Department of Education determined that the Lakewood district had a budget deficit in excess of $1 million, the board renewed Inzelbuch's contract as board attorney and approved an increase in his fee from $175 per hour to $200 per hour.

In July 2007, the board also renewed the contract for Inzelbuch's part-time consulting job for three additional years instead of one. His salary increased from $112,000 during the 2006-7 school year to over $117,000 for the 2007-8 school year.

At the January 4, 2008 board meeting, Inzelbuch offered to resign his position as board attorney. A reporter for NJ News & Views left a voicemail message for Inzelbuch after the meeting. The reporter asked Inzelbuch if he would also offer to resign his part-time consulting position, which pays a salary equal to three full-time beginning teachers' salaries, as well as premium benefits that Lakewood teachers do not receive.

Inzelbuch did not return the call for comment.

Waters questioned the board's budgetary decisions during the January 29 public forum.

"What percent is total busing of the total budget?" Waters asked the board, which did not respond to his question.

A copy of the 2007-8 school budget stated that transportation comprised 12 percent of the total budget. However, sources have told NJ News & Views that Lakewood taxpayers also finance the transportation of Jackson non-public school students to class in Lakewood.

Since the 1990s, Jackson advocates have identified a multi-million dollar line item in each Jackson school budget that was not surplus and was not used to reduce Jackson taxpayers' obligation. Last year, NJ News & Views reported the basis for the rumors after Lakewood board President Chet Galdo denied them during the January 2007 meeting.

At the start of the 2007-8 school year, the Lakewood board approved a jointure to provide bus service to one Jackson student seeking to attend non-public school in Lakewood. The board approved the jointure in September 2007 - the same month the Jackson student requesting the service started attending school in Lakewood. However, the Jackson board did not approve the jointure for months, passing the cost until that time onto Lakewood taxpayers.

At its' December 18, 2007 meeting, the Jackson Board of Education finally approved the busing jointure to transport one Jackson student to class at Bais Faiga at a cost of $859. Many other Orthodox students living in Jackson that attend school in Lakewood are also entitled to the service, but are not receiving it from Jackson.

After the Lakewood Board of Education approved the jointure in September 2007, a reporter for NJ News & Views filed an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request with both districts to view the documents. Lakewood administrators provided access to the jointure within seven business days, but for months, Jackson administrators insisted Lakewood administrators had not sent them the document.

Under OPRA, all contracts, bills and vouchers must be provided upon request.

NJ News & Views also requested all jointure correspondence exchanged between the two districts.

Last year, a reporter requested jointure correspondence from Jackson after Lakewood approved the agreement in September. Jackson officials denied there was any correspondence and insisted the contract had been requested by telephone.

Several weeks later, a Lakewood transportation official told the reporter that all jointure requests must be made in writing, whether by mail, fax or e-mail. Following the transportation official's disclosure, the reporter made an OPRA request for Lakewood's jointure correspondence with Jackson. Neither Inzelbuch nor district administrators responded to the request by contacting the reporter in writing or by telephone to either grant or deny access to the requested documentation - in violation of state law under the Open Public Records Act.

Jackson administrators did not provide immediate access to the jointure until January 2008, four months after Lakewood taxpayers began providing the service without a legal contract approved by both boards of education.

By denying a reporter immediate access to the jointure before it was adopted in December, the Jackson board and administrators prevented Jackson taxpayers from participating in an informed public discussion about it - in violation of state law under the Open Public Records Act and the Open Public Meetings Act.

Resident Ervin Thomas told members of the Lakewood board at its January 29 meeting that he found it hard to trust them based on their policy decisions.

"Why should we trust you with our kids if we can't trust you with our budget?" he asked during the meeting's public forum.

Lakewood residents also criticized the board's transportation policy. Jeannine Gorsak said board members had abused courtesy busing.

Courtesy busing, referred to by the state as non-remote transportation, is provided at board discretion to public and non-public school students since the state does not reimburse its cost. Lakewood board policy is to provide courtesy busing to any and all public and non-public schools that request it, before or after state deadlines.

In order to fund all requests for courtesy busing, the Lakewood board has approved line item transfers from accounts used to pay other bills, leaving them with insufficient funding. In past years, the policy has created multi-million dollar budget shortfalls since the board did not propose an increase in the school tax levy large enough to fund all its budgetary expenses.

Gorsak said the board was not doing enough to also provide security in elementary schools where it had laid off security guards to close the most recent budget shortfall.

"To say, oh, well, we'll just lock the doors (is foolish)," she said. "To say that my second grader doesn't need security (is ridiculous)!"

Gorsak also criticized the board's decision to lay off teachers and educational support personnel, whose help was key to aiding public school students do well on required state and Federal tests.

"I'm not happy," she told the board.

Resident Glen Bradford demanded to know when security guards would be back in every public school.

Board members did not respond to his concern.

"We're sick and tired of coming here and getting nowhere," Kimberly Singleton told board members after Bradford addressed them without a response.

Singleton said that by removing security guards from elementary schools, the board had exposed young children to the threat of pedophiles roaming the area, looking for victims.

"We want something done," she said. "If you won't protect them, we're going to have to take matters into our own hands."

The audience applauded.

On November 12, 2007, intruders trespassed on Lakewood High School property and instigated a disturbance many eyewitnesses described as a riot. Police from several area townships responded to the disturbance, which continued throughout the day. Sources told NJ News & Views that many of the security cameras installed in the building were not operating at the time of the riot.

Shortly after the riot, the board announced it was laying off security guards in Lakewood elementary schools. Following public outcry, the board announced it would tighten security at the high school and middle school through the use of student identification (I.D.) cards, metal detectors and the hire of Watchful i, a threat assessment and tactical response program that enables teachers, staff and students at all public schools to anonymously report information about possible danger on school grounds or threats to safety.

The board contracted to hire Watchful i at a cost of $15,250. Half the fee will be paid during the current school year and the remaining half will be paid the following school year.

The Asbury Park Press reported the security program last month, which the board approved during a meeting scheduled on the same day and time that the township committee meets. An online reader questioned the usefulness of the program in a posted response to the newspaper's report.

"Why can't the kid just tell the teacher or trot off to the principal's office to tell him (about any threat)?" the reader posted. "Sounds to me like this is a waste of money for the school district. And as for 'The program allows information to come in anonymously,' the site can always get the computer's owner ID via software."

During the January 29 meeting, representatives of Watchful i presented information about it. The officials left prior to the public forum. Resident Tracy Tiff said she wished the board had asked them to stay.

"One of my concerns was whether cameras in the schools will replace security guards," she said.

Juan Ortiz said students were not using their security cards while in school. He also said school doors were not being locked.

Inzelbuch asked Assistant Superintendent of Schools William Andersen if what Ortiz said was true.

"I suggest that any parent that sees a door open should call…my secretary instead of waiting to discuss it at the next board meeting," Andersen said.

Ortiz' wife, Dolores, told the board her grandson was a sophomore at Lakewood High School. She said the two decided to see if anyone was checking security.

"He has been to school for two weeks without a pass," she said. "I know this for a fact - student I.D.s are not being checked."

Board Vice President Abraham Ostreicher threatened to take action against any student that deliberately came to class without required identification.

Andersen said the district did not want any harm to come to students.

"Parents want children to be safe and every teacher and administrator wants the same thing," he said. "None of us is perfect, none of us. Question what we do, but don't question (the integrity) of hard-working (professionals) in this district."

His words did not reassure all parents that addressed the board during the public forum. Tamika Donald, an occupational therapist, said she was forced to take her son out of Lakewood High School and enroll him in a private school in East Orange, 60 miles away.

"He didn't feel safe," she said. "I'm upset that my son is 60 miles away because he's scared to go to Lakewood High School."

Simone Vega, a 2005 graduate of Lakewood High School, asked the cost of the security cameras in the school, many of which were not operating during the November riot there.

Vega said her sister, a student at Lakewood Middle School, told her there were rodents in the building since janitors that cleaned it were laid off.

"I don't think that's right," Vega said. "Every school should be clean."

Carol Cousins, President of the Lakewood Education Association (LEA), the union that represents teachers and affiliated personnel, also addressed the board. Cousins commented on the 8 p.m. meeting time, which was later than past meetings.

"Some of us do have to get up and go to work in the mornings," she said.

Cousins also told the board that she objected to secretaries having to answer the door in addition to their other responsibilities.

"Answering a door is not in the job description of a secretary," Cousins said.

The LEA has been working without a new contract since July 1, 2007.

Board member Leonard Thomas said a meeting to discuss a new contract would be scheduled with LEA representatives and Inzelbuch the following week.

Thomas, who is running for reelection to the board with Ostreicher and Galdo, indicated that residents and taxpayers dissatisfied with the board's actions needed to vote or run for public office if they wanted change.

"The system is only going to be as good as those participating in it," Thomas said.